The first official images from 300: Rise of an Empire, the long awaited sequel (sort of—more on that later) to Zack Snyder‘s 2006 adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel 300, have been released online.

One of the images shows some muscular gentlemen (what did you expect?) on a ship during a sea battle, and the other shows star Sullivan Stapleton (Gangster Squad, The Hunter), who’s playing the lead character Themistokles.

Click on over to the other side now to check out the first images from 300: Rise of an Empire.

The movie is widely considered to be a sequel, but it’s actually not a sequel or a prequel. It’s a parallel or companion movie that takes place right around the same time as 300 when Leonidas and his brave 300 Spartans took on a massive Persian army. The story follows Greek general Themistokles and his troops as they also battle the Persians, only this fight takes place on the sea. The David vs. Goliath element is there again as well, though these men—apart from the battle-tested Themistokles—are not highly trained warriors like the Spartans were; they’re common men who do not wish to fight, but are forced to.

It may sound like the movie is just a replica of 300 set on the sea, but, according to director Noam Murro, it is a very different story with multiple battles, locations, and tactics.

As for the God King Xerxes, the primary antagonist in the first movie, he will appear once again, and will be again played by Rodrigo Santoro. But he has his second in command with him this time around, the commander of the Persian navy named Artemisia (Eva Green). She’s vicious, and often does Xerxes’ dirty work for him. She’s also out for revenge on the Greeks, who killed her family when she was a child. If you’ll recall, the movie was originally titled Xerxes and then 300: Battle of Artemisia before settling on this latest title, if that tells you anything.

The sequel is penned by Snyder, once again adapted from the work of Miller, and Kurt Johnstad. It will be released on August 2nd.

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[Source: USA Today via /Film]